2008 History

Oil at $126.20

— Even though I've been following Peak Oil for years, it's still jarring when the effects show up at the door.

— I'm rather pleased that Obama didn't fall for the 'gas tax holiday' scheme. That's just circuses and cakes when what we're facing is a literal shortage of wheat and a figurative surplus of clowns.

— The SUVs and big pickups are starting to show up on the sides of the busy streets with "For Sale" signs.

— I'm seeing a lot more step-though scooters lately, and the occasional 3 wheeled motor bike.

— I still haven't seen $4.00 for regular yet, but I only see one gas station on my commute, and the day is young.

Fri, 09 May 2008 08:08:12 PDT - Link

Friday Cat Blogging

Tory James, who turned 12 yesterday, proves that in fact, you can fall off the floor.

Fri, 09 May 2008 07:18:12 PDT - Link

I Love 'Dem Inturtubewebs

So last night I'm working out the TAB for a song, and I'm wondering what I'd call the chord {x 6 8 8 6 x}, and I thought; "Maybe someone's done a web based application to find the name of guitar chords based on finger position."

Aah-yup.

Chord Namer at JGuitar is just such a tool.

Go to the site. Use The Tools. Click the ads!

Tue, 06 May 2008 07:38:09 PDT - Link

Oil Hit $120 a Barrel Today

CNBC will tell you it's because of a strike or strife in Nigeria, but I think it's because for each the last 25+ years, we've been using more oil than we've found in that year. More than twice as much in recent years.

This is supply and demand. We control demand, but the supply is now firmly in the hands of geology.

Chart from ASPO Newsletetr #89

Mon, 05 May 2008 08:49:34 PDT - Link

The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class

From the Graduate Council Lectures at UC Berkeley, Elizabeth Warren discusses The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class.

This is an outstanding and chilling presentation of the economic pressures on the typical American family of four in the most recent generation.

Take a look at this, then ponder the irrelevance of a summer gas tax holiday. Then ponder why the news is always talking about the tiny, simple stories.

Sun, 04 May 2008 10:41:45 PDT - Link

Friday Cat Blogging

Sleeping in. Again.

Fri, 02 May 2008 07:45:49 PDT - Link

Oh, That's Why....

Now it's much more complicated. There is a sliding scale based on the footprint of each individual vehicle. The footprint is defined as the wheelbase times the average of the track width or the area within the wheels. The larger the footprint, the lower the threshold that vehicle has to meet. Therefore for two cars of similar overall size but one with a longer wheelbase, the longer one would have a lower mileage requirement. Each automaker is then assigned an individual threshold to meet based on the sales weighted average footprint of the vehicles it sells. A company that sells more large footprint vehicles would have a lower hurdle to jump.

AutoblogGreen

Get ready for longer Detroit iron - something really stretched, and long and low, like the batmobile. Never mind, it's already here.

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:01:54 PDT - Link

New Toys

I told Darryl that his new Album War Of Blue was going to cost me.

The Guitar is a 2007 Les Paul Standard, which I picked up earlier this month on Craig's List from a guy who was switching to a Satriani Guitar more amenable to shredding. I haven't got a scale handy, but it feels quite light as Les Pauls go. It does have what's called a 'chambered' body, which means that some of the mahogany was drilled out above and around the tail stop at the factory. (X-Ray picture here).

It's still pretty stock, but I have plans to upgrade the pots, and yesterday I tweaked the nut slots under the E and A strings with superglue and some dust scrapped from a fragment of piano key I've kept in my art box since 1977. I also had to drill out the mounting holes in the tunamatic bridge to allow the height adjusters to operate correctly.

The sound is pure Les Paul - it has the newer BurstBucker Pro pickups, which have a classic, more interesting, hand-wound tone than machine-perfect-wound pickups. No complaints on the tone, (In fact I love it) although I am thinking of removing the bridge pickup cover to make it look more like Jimmy Page's 59.

Oddly enough, it seems to have come factory-loaded with Led Zeppelin songs. All the licks I practiced in the 70's came flowing back as soon as I picked it up.

This is my second Les Paul, the first was a '70s Deluxe, which I eventually let go because I couldn't get the tone I wanted. I can't say this will be my last Les Paul, but I'm planning on keeping it and playing it as long as I can move my fingers.

The amp is a VOX AD30VT, which combines a DSP front end, a 12AX7 vacuum tube driver, a 30 watt solid state power amp, and an enclosed 10" speaker (with cat-proof grill!).

I only picked it up yesterday, but the range of tones that this amp delivers is staggering. Everything from ultra-clean to metal crunch, with loads of variations in between. I can't say enough about how cool it is to have all these amp models (11 in all) to play with, and how each one seems to inspire a different song style to come from my fingers.

The DSP also delivers some effects which I describe as "interesting", but I may come to appreciate them after I've learned how to tweak them to my preference.

I picked it up at Guitar Showcase as a practice amp, for something to keep at home while my aging JC-120 does duty with the band, but I'm loving the tone so much it may take over as my main amp. (Any one in Silicon Valley want to buy a JC-120?)

It wasn't until I got it home and peeked in the manual that I discovered my favorite feature — it has a power level control knob on the back that allows me to set the max power anywhere from 30 watts to less than one tenth of a watt, without affecting the amp tone. Obviously, the speaker does contribute to tone as the volume changes, but the power level control protects the neighbors from accidental audio bombardment.

You might wonder why the whole world hasn't all switched to this amp, after this glowing review, and the answer is that the amp falls apart if you hold a chord to the very last. On a fully analog chain, the sound dips smoothly out of the distortion and keeps dropping until it disappears into the noise. In this DSP based system, the sound holds on for a very, very long time, but then falls off a cliff, and the distortion model begins to stutter and fail, then a noise gate kicks in to drop the output to dead quiet.

Shredders won't find this much of an issue, but those of us inspired by Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, and David Gilmore will occasionally find ourselves sinking into the digital chaos and silence.

Still, The VOX AD30VT a great value, and will teach you to play better — just set up a sound, get the speaker pointed at your ears, and play. I paid about $250 after taxes, it was on sale and I got a discount because of some shipping rash.

Anyway, if another week goes by without blogging, you'll know it's because I'm spending it with my new musical friends.

P.S. If you've been thinking about a new guitar and need some inspiration to get you over the hump, I recommend Darryl St. Johns new album War of Blue.

Gibson should give out copies at music stores. It's what drove me back into the Les Paul fold.

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 11:57:39 PDT - Link

Friday Bat Clogging

T-Chan

Oh man, another week with no blog entries.

Not that I haven't had loads on my mind, I just haven't been able to get up to a rolling boil on any one issue. Here's a few snippets:

- Hillary, Obama is the heir, and you are the spare. You can't become queen by sliming the heir. If he falls from grace, the position is yours, if you push him, not so much.

- I still haven't personally seen $4.00 for regular yet. San Jose Gas Prices has eight locations at over $4 just now.

I was expecting $4 gas, I did not make the connection to food riots in the third world.

Oil pinged $119 on news that a "U.S.-contracted ship fires toward Iranian boat". Hmmm. I wonder if Blackwater has any littoral ships.

It looks like a refinery strike in Scotland will shut in production at up to 60 fields, and may shut the refinery for a month. (The US imports refined fuel from the UK.)

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 09:11:29 PDT - Link

Friday cat Blogging

Miko: No, you can't have my spot in the sun. Beeeeeeda!

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 08:13:25 PDT - Link

A Thing of Beauty

Myopic Void has posted an essay on his recreation of Jimmy Page's Hiwatt amp at Metropoulos Amplification

I've always loved the sound of the Hiwatt, the odd mix of distortion, warmth and clarity. This loving recreation makes me long for the days when you could actually see the tubes throbbing, and when you look under the hood you can actually see the components. (My latest projects use parts so small that the boars feels like sandpaper, and I need a stereo microscope and a needle probe on my oscilloscope.)

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 09:07:49 PDT - Link

Friday Cat Blogging

Tory James

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:20:55 PDT - Link

Overheard at lunch

"My last phone? I was bending over the cat's water dish, it slipped out of my shirt pocket and 'ploop', in it went"

"You should ask your wife for your own water dish!"

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:20:55 PDT - Link

Quality of Life

Last Saturday, my sister and I were sitting in my living room and I said, 'I never want to live in a vegetative state, dependent on some machine and continuous fluids to keep me alive. That would be no quality of life at all. If that ever happens, just stop everything and pull the plug.

So my sister got up, unplugged my computer, and threw out my wine.

From an email from Chuck D., channeling Writer Chick channeling Maxine

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 08:41:15 PDT - Link

Silicon Memory

Just a post-dated note to self - The Les Paul Standard joined the herd today. (I'll blog more about it later)

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:48:39 PDT - Link

Fricat Day Blogging

Miko and T-Chan

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 08:49:15 PDT - Link

A Really Really Bad Feeling About This

Israel's security Cabinet has decided to redistribute gas masks to the entire population amid fears of a non-conventional war with Iran. The last distribution was before the U.S. invasion of Iraq four years ago. The gas masks were collected last year because they were out of date.

Voice of America

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 12:55:44 PDT - Link

First Ever Virus On BeOS!

Ah, those clever, clever hax0rs: How to P0wn the Be0S on a B3B0X.

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 08:14:38 PDT - Link

Friday Cat Blogging

Miko

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 08:24:23 PDT - Link

I Have A Bad Feeling About This

Riyadh (dpa) - The Saudi Shura council will secretly discuss national plans to deal with any sudden nuclear and radioactive hazards that may affect the kingdom following experts' warnings of possible attacks on Iran's Bushehr nuclear reactors, media reports said Saturday.

he Saudi-based King Abdul-Aziz City for Science and Technology has prepared a proposal that encapsulates the probabilities of leaking nuclear and radiation hazards in case of any unexpected nuclear attacks in Iran, the Okaz Saudi newspaper said.

Wire Dispatch

I can has new president soon, please? kthxbai

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 19:39:06 PDT - Link

The War On Science

The story that I was told when I was asked, why do I have to have my testimony reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget in the White House before it's given to Congress, and they said, 'Well, your testimony needs to be consistent with the President's budget." I mean, it doesn't make sense. —DR. JAMES HANSEN

Democracy Now: Censoring Science: Inside the Political Attack on Dr. James Hansen and the Truth of Global Warming

This is a 50 minute piece, available in Real Video, Real Audio and MP3.

I was tempted to say that the administration was winning the War on Science, but the insurgents (AKA scientists) continue to hold the high ground.

P.S. Hanson's comment, "it doesn't make sense" could equally apply to the President's budget.

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 08:15:56 PDT - Link

Friday Cat Blogging

Tory and T-chan

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 07:41:58 PDT - Link

What, Again?

CNN (AKA the Obama Minister Channel) is reporting That Scooter Libby Has Been disbarred. The first thing that came to mind was Bush commuting his 30-month prison term, and another kind of bars.

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 09:08:11 PDT - Link

Why They Don't Let Joe On CNN: Reason Number 298

Republican Noise Droid: Why didn't Obama leave his church when his pastor said those things?

Joe: Ah, well, you're a Republican, right?

Republican Noise Droid: Yes, and proud of it.

Joe: Well then why didn't you leave the Republican party when the leader of your party lied to get us into a war?

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 19:30:40 PDT - Link

Arthur C. Clarke 1917 - 2008

The last of the giants has fallen.

1. "When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong."*

2. "The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible."

3. "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

— Clarke's three laws:

* While I cannot assume the mantle of "distinguished" for myself, I am always aware of this law, and am quite hesitant to say something cannot be done.

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 21:53:40 PDT - Link

On The Topic Of Fanfiction

Checking through my logs, I've noticed some hits from Ambulatory Kettle over at Fanfiction.net, who said embarrassingly nice things about my stories.

Here's back at ya!

P.S. I'm reading my way through "Spring of Drowned Dojo"

I haven't enjoyed Ranma fanfiction much of late (especially my own) but I'm having a hard time putting this one down.

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 21:36:19 PDT - Link

Remarks of Senator Barack Obama "A More Perfect Union" Constitution Center Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Historic. Breathtaking. Inspiring.

This is what leadership looks like, people.

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 08:38:56 PDT - Link

Hallucinated Wealth

Over the weekend, the Federal Reserve engineered a $30-billion dollar Saint Paddy's day present for the JP Morgan bank by handing them the corpse of Bear Stearns. The object of the game is to prevent the "assets" of Bear Stearns from going to the auction block, on which they would be discovered to be nearly worthless, which would instantly render all similar assets held by the other big banks to be similarly worthless, and would result in a universal margin call that would pretty much unwind the hallucinated "wealth" acquired the past ten years.

James Howard Kunstler

Sunday night, the Bear Sterns take-over deal swept around the world, causing market across Asia and Europe to swoon. The news was bad enough that CNBC dropped their weekend paid programming to run the world feed, but by the end of the trading day in New York, the NYSE was up.

That's a lot of clapping, Wendy.

The worst part of this mess is that unwinding these leveraged fantasy positions and derivative will leave the economy flat on its back (thanks loads, Republicans) just at a time when we'll be waking up to the basic fact that there are, in fact limits to growth.

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 07:53:35 PDT - Link

Saturday Bee Blogging

Wild Behive - March 13, 2008 - Nikon D70S 200mm F/5.6 1/125sec.

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 11:36:31 PDT - Link

Friday Cat Blogging

T-Chan

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 07:55:21 PDT - Link

$110.14 / Barrel - or - Today Is A Bad Day To Buy A Hummer

Oil is at $110.14 in after hours trading today. It's up 10% since the first trading day of the year. Just thought you'd like to know.

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:01:15 PDT - Link

Album Review: War of Blue

I've known Darryl for over 30 years. In fact, for a time I owned and played a Les Paul Deluxe that he played while in Atlantic Mine. (It was replaced by that '59 in the cover image on the right, which became Darryl's main axe, and I let the Deluxe go in a moment of weakness some 25 years ago.)

Back to the album... From the 'needle drop' and first searing chords of "Well Well Well", I knew I was in for a treat. This is Rock and Roll, distilled, pure, in large, satisfying doses. Michele McCarthy's voice is a perfect match for the sound - hints of Janice Joplin, hints of Robert Plant, but overall an original top-dead-center rock voice. Marc Golde provides a solid and textured background on bass and keys. Beneath it all Zak St. John, Darryl's son and home grown drummer provides a a crisp and sparkling beat on seven of the nine tracks, with Greg Theil stepping up for two of the tracks.

Darryl's guitar work is naturally the focus of the album, and here be magic. The influence of Jimmy Page shines through on the Zep cover tracks "I Can't quit you babe" and "Since I've Been Loving You". Okay - Influence isn't the right word here. It's as if Darryl is channeling Page through his fingers. Page on his very best nights. Maybe it's because I grew up on that sound, and it's burned into the ROM of my soul, but the combination of Les Paul guitar and Marshall Amp has never sounded better. Throughout, Darryl's guitar growls, sings, cries, and always satisfies.

Check Darryl's myspace page to hear some of his work, and to purchase War of Blue, and Skope Magazine has a great bio.

I wrote Darryl to tell him his album was really going to cost me - I've been prowling Craigslist for a Les Paul to try to capture a little of that magic for myself.

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 09:43:02 PDT - Link

The Myth of the 1970s Global Cooling Scientific Consensus

Via RealClimate, a study that looks at what climate scientists were really thinking in the '70s:

The survey identified only seven articles indicating cooling compared to 42 indicating warming. Those seven cooling articles garnered just 12% of the citations. Graphical representations of this survey are shown in Figure 1 for the number of articles and Figure 2 for the number of citations. Interestingly, only two of the articles would, according to the current state of climate science, be considered wrong in the sense of getting the wrong sign of the response to the forcing they considered.

The Myth of the 1970s Global Cooling Scientific Consensus

Let's put this one to bed folks. Climate science comes from climate scientists, not from Newsweek.

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 09:03:15 PST - Link

Friday Cat Blogging

Miko and Tory. — Photo by Wife

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 18:59:27 PST - Link

A Florida Moment...

It sounds like Michigan is planning caucuses in order to have their delegates seated at the convention. Florida is making noises, but most of them are demanding that the national party pay for a new election there.

Now maybe it's just me, but maybe Florida should just sit this one out, as a partial penance for 2000.

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 23:10:37 PST - Link

Friday Cat Blogging

Unidentified windowsill cat — Zermatt, Switzerland

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 08:45:23 PST - Link

11% is not a solution

Integrated oil and gas company Chevron replaced only about 11 percent of the oil and gas it produced in 2007, as its total reserves slipped about 7 percent year over year.

The company's net proved oil and gas reserves, including affiliate companies, fell to 10.77 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) at the end of 2007, down from 11.62 billion boe at the end of 2006. The company reported the figure in its annual report with the Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday.

CNBC

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:35:58 PST - Link

Great Interview

Dave Winer has released an mp3 of his interview with George Lakoff of the Rockridege Institute.

It's really compelling listening, Lakoff clearly has some great points, and Dave lets him make them.

P.S. Don't be turned off by the behind-the-curtains tech stuff at the top, use it as a time to get comfortable with the levels and voices, so that you're settled in when the content starts to flow.

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:11:10 PST - Link

Swiss Coffee

Breakfast in Zermatt Switzerland, 2007.09.17

Apropos of nothing, here is one of the many images from Switzerland I've not found time to post.

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 08:41:21 PST - Link

Friday Cat Blogging

Tory James.

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 08:56:06 PST - Link

Top 10 Reasons Joe Has Not Been Blogging Lately

#10 His home office has been torn apart for a week to remove the popcorn from the ceiling and give the walls a fresh coat of paint.

#9 He's dedicating all his free time to learning how to sing and play Jonathan Coulton's Code Monkey.

#8 He's crazy busy with a new project at work, which he can't talk about.

#7 He's busy brushing the tubes of the inturwebs to try find out what the Microsoft acquisition means to his Danger Stock. (It's not a life-changing event.)

#6 Two Words: Crab Month!

#5 He's busy working out the mathematical relationship between the total lunar eclipse and Oil reaching $100 per barrel.

#4 He's busy finishing Yellow. - [psych!]

#3 He's occupied finishing some very fine scotch he got for valentine's day.

#2 He's spending all his time on Crag's list looking for PA speakers.

#1 He's been busy working business deal with the daughter of a former Nigerian Official.

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 08:56:06 PST - Link

Friday Cat Blogging

Unidentified Monorail Cat. Santa Clara, CA

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 08:18:40 PST - Link

Top Ten List Of Things That Will Happen To America If The Wrong Party Wins In November.

"Because we all know what will happen to America if the wrong party wins in November." — John McCain

This calls for a Top Ten list... (Drumroll)

#10: They will enact tax cuts to benefit the rich that will explode the budget deficit.

#9 They will form a secret enegry task force made up of oil executives who will make secret recommendations about where the secret oil is secretly hidden in Iraq. Secret.

#8 They will ignore presidential daily briefs entitled "Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in U.S."

#7 They will restrict federal funding in stem cell research to "existing lines" (Which have been contaminated with mouse DNA — But a cure for cheese addiction is imminent)

#6 Their party leader will sit in a classroom reading "My Pet Goat" while the country is under attack.

#5 They will push though legislation restricting freedoms and begin illegal spying on the American Public.

#4 They will open detention centers outside the boundaries of the United States to prevent prisoners from having constitutional protections.

#3 They will make false claims about weapons of mass destruction in order to justify a war.

#2 They will execute said war without enough troops to prevent the country from devolving into civil war.

#1 Their leader will land on an aircraft carrier to declare "Mission Accomplished"

Crap. 10 is simply not enough. A few minutes with Google and you could easily make a similarly devastating top ten list about air quality, or family planning, or civil liberties, or economic justice, or public health, or education, or labor, or energy, or global warming, or corporate malfeasance, or food safety, or open government, or campaign finance, or the conduct of the Iraq war, or just about every act this administration has undertaken since stealing to 2000 election.

Nobody's perfect. Bush broke is non-stop streak of mendacity in 2002 when he gave Fred Rodgers the Presidential Medal of Freedom, an act I fully applaud and support. Of course Bush later tried to make up for it by giving the same medal to George Tenet.

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 08:05:57 PST - Link

Microsoft to buy phone maker Danger

Microsoft said on Monday that it is acquiring Danger, the Palo Alto, Calif.-based maker of the T-Mobile Sidekick for an undisclosed amount. T-Mobile Sidekick Slide

"The addition of Danger serves as a perfect complement to our existing software and services, and also strengthens our dedication to improving mobile experiences centered around individuals and what they like," Microsoft entertainment unit president Robbie Bach said in a statement.

C|Net News

That does it. I'm going Guitar shopping. To help the economy - yeah. That's it. The Economy. Or maybe a PA system. I've always wanted one.

Update: If anyone can tell me what my Danger shares are now worth, I'd be much obliged.

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 08:31:48 PST - Link

Friday Cat Blogging

T-Chan (Photo by Wife)

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 08:37:43 PST - Link

I voted for Obama this morning. Here's why.

In a speech last year (before Hillary announced) Bill Clinton talked about how candidates campaign on "A" "B" and "C" but when they get in office they have to deal with "D" "E" and "F".

I turned 50 this year, and from I see three threats to civilization that are likely to affect the world in the rest of my time here on Earth:

- Population overshoot
- Global Climate Change
- Peak Oil

I can't exactly put them in order of global effect, but I know which one will hit first.

I've been watching the DVDs of the Houston ASPO (Association for the Study of Peak Oil) conference, and the evidence is overwhelming that this shite is going to hit the big fan (very hard) before the end of the term of the next president.

While I think Clinton would be up to the task, and were it a different time, I would vote for her in a heartbeat, yet - I think she is lacking in a quality that we're going to need.

We are going to need an inspirational kind of leadership to do the right things, even though they are hard, and more importantly to not do the obvious, easy, but wrong things.

We are going to need a president who can stand up and tell us that we'll need to sacrifice - for the greater good, and for the future. A president who will make us feel bigger as human beings, because there is more to life than being a good consumer.

I believe that President Is Barack Obama

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 10:23:21 PST - Link

Friday Cat Blogging

Tory and Miko in Red Office Chair — Photo by Wife

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 07:34:20 PST - Link

Clubbed by Growth

Exponential growth is the bedrock of our culture. Governments, central banks, and businesses maintain the economy must grow every year to remain healthy. But unending expansion goes against every law of nature. If an 18-year-old young man weighing 77.3 kilograms (170 pounds) were to increase his weight by only 2 per cent a year, by the time he reached age 53 he would weigh 154.6 kilograms (340 pounds), and be a ripe candidate for heart disease and diabetes.

Yet this is the kind of annual exponential growth that governments consider normal. Besides pushing our demands beyond the limits of the natural world, the authors say it widens the gap between rich and poor, because only the rich have pools of capital to invest. So their wealth grows exponentially and the poor lag increasingly behind.

What will bring society to collapse, the authors say, won't be exhaustion of the planet's stock of energy and raw materials. It will be the growing and insurmountable cost of exploiting them, plus the cost of dealing with the increasing waste and pollution it will cause.

The Star Toronto, Canada

It's hard to comment on a story like this. As an engineer, it's self-evident that you simply cannot have exponential growth in a resource limited world.

It's one thing to recognize this absolute truth in the abstract, but yet another to realize that these simple calculations will affect humanity, in you own lifetime.

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:46:24 PST - Link

SOTU Blogging

The writer's strike has really taken its toll on this one. It sounds like they cut and pasted the most forgettable parts from previous years.

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 18:50:28 PST - Link

Got Kakistocracy?

Kakistocracy Noun: Government by the least qualified or most unprincipled citizens.

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 13:07:55 PST - Link

Friday Cat Blogging

T-Chan and Miko in Red Office Chair. (Again.)

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 08:46:28 PST - Link

Lies, Damn Lies and 935 False Statements

President George W. Bush and seven of his administration's top officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, made at least 935 false statements in the two years following September 11, 2001, about the national security threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Nearly five years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, an exhaustive examination of the record shows that the statements were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses.

Public Integrity

362 days of moving backwards left.

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 08:40:56 PST - Link

Tonight feels like the night before Katrina hit New Orleans.

World markets took it on the chin last night, and tonight the Nikkei is down another 4.88%.

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 20:56:32 PST - Link

Change for the Better

Exactly one year from now (366 days because it's a leap year, damnit!) we'll have a new president. Start out Bush's last year with a laugh from blip.tv.

- Link

Friday Cat Blogging

Slumber Party

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 08:10:43 PST - Link

Imprinting Again?

If they don't have a lot of additional oil to put on the market, it is hard to ask somebody to do something they may not be able to do.

— George W. Bush from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Jan 16, 2006

This might not seem such an extraordinary statement, after all, it's a simple truth. What set off alarm bells in my head was that when I read it I was reminded of this statement by Scott Ritter:

I understand the concept of "imprinting," and have seen it in action. What is clear from the president's remarks is that, far from an innocent rhetorical fumble, his words, and the context in which he employed them, are a clear indication of the imprinting which is taking place behind the scenes at the White House. If the president mentions World War III in the context of Iran's nuclear program, one can be certain that this is the very sort of discussion that is taking place in the Oval Office.

Ritter's comments were not specifically about oil, but the notion of imprinting applied here indicates that Bush was recently told by the Saudis that pumping more oil is "something they may not be able to do."

This is probably as close to an admission of peak oil by the Saudis or the Bush administration as we are likely to see before the presidential election.

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 07:56:16 PST - Link

Huh.

The Wikkipedia entry for iambic pentameter is written in iambic pentameter.

So I looked up recursion. The page is still loading.

Sun, 13 Jan 2008 17:24:25 PST - Link

Friday Cat Blogging

Miko and Tory.

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 07:40:07 PST - Link

Mixer Repairs

A couple of weeks back my Alesis USB-8 mixer blew a preamp, which caused it to make a loud hiss on channel 2.

I was able to quickly identify a well and truly blown 2SA970 transistor (It was marked A970 on the package) and a few minutes with Google found an online source. It's an inexpensive part at $0.18 each, and it looked interesting for future projects so I ordered 35 of them. Shipping and handling was $8.95, from Audio Lab of GA

Unfortunately, replacing the 2SA970 revealed that the companion transistor was blown as well. This time the component marking was much more cryptic: "1FW".

I performed the usual Google incantations with no effect, and remained stumped for over a week. Then one afternoon I was bemoaning my lack of a mixer to Sue at work, and she suggested looking for online collections of SMT markings. Bingo. I stumbled on www.tkb-4u.com which sorts parts by the 1st character of the SMT code.

I didn't find an "1FW" in the list, but there was a "1F-" for the BC847BW part from NXP (Priviously Philips Semi). A quick trip to digikey.com baged the data sheet, and sure enough, that "W" at the end was the country of origin code, which in my case was China. This time the parts were $0.09 each, or $0.048 at quantity 100. I bought 100, for $4.88 (It's a great general purpose part) and paid $11.90 for 3 day postage.

Anyway, replacing the transistor brought my mixer quietly back to life. Why am I telling you about this? Because it's a good way to document which parts I'll need to use if I have to to a future repair, (although I now have enough parts to make this particular repair 34 more times) and to help out other poor souls who may find themselves in a similar position.

BTW, In searching again for www.tkb-4u.com, I located several other great component marking reference sites:

http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/F_SMD_trans.html
http://www.satcure-focus.com/design/page2.htm
http://www.angelfire.com/electronic2/rch/smt1.html
http://www.hobid.com/inventory/B/207.html

P.S. I can also be talked into suppling these parts in unit quantities, send me a self addressed stamped envelope (two stamps because it's bulky) and a $1.00 bill, (Or a suitable sob or funny story, or a link to an .mp3 of a song you wrote an performed (for my personal listening pleasure only)) and I'll send you the pair.

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 09:09:28 PST - Link

A Signal Ignored

According to TheOilDrum.com , at some point enough oil will have been extracted that no matter how many more wells are drilled, overall production from the field will go into irreversible decline. And as field after field reaches this condition, the overall production of oil for the region will begin to fall. This happened to the United States in 1970 when oil production reached a peak. US production has since declined from a maximum of over 9.6 million barrels a day (mbd), to the current level of around 5 mbd. More recently, the oil fields of the North Sea, the Alaskan fields on the North Slope, and the huge Cantarell field in Mexico have entered irreversible decline.

PR Newswire

They're a pretty perceptive bunch over at TOD, and I think 2008 will be the year that Peak Oil is on the front page of every paper in the world.

The Wall Street Journal doesn't quite say the words "Peak Oil" in their excellent piece: Oil Hits $100, Jolting Markets but they will before December 31, 2008.

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 08:57:51 PST - Link

Friday Cat Blogging

Tory James (In Bathtub)

BTW, Tory endorses Senator Barack Obama

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 08:12:18 PST - Link

I Endorse John Edwards

Not that my endorsement really matters to anyone, but here's my reason for the endorsement:

The last two decades have seen a huge shift in power from the citizenry and their representatives to mega corporations and their interests. Year after year laws have been changed to grant large corporations a poisonous concentration of power in the areas of media ownership, personal privacy, and consumer rights, to name a few. They have used this power to thwart the wellbeing of the citizenry in the areas of health care, energy efficiency, consumer credit, and public transit — again, to name but a few, and that's not even counting their manipulation of the electoral process.

It is past time to roll back the power of corporations, and this cannot be done by a centrist candidate who has a 'go-along, get-along' attitude toward big business. This status-quo attitude will only lead in the near future to the end of net neutrality, the end of privacy protections, and the beginning of crippling DRM restrictions.

Edwards is the one candidate in either party who has stood out and shown the most backbone where it comes to standing up against big business. Hang in there, John, we need you.

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 13:07:20 PST - Link

Welcome to the second trading day of 2008.

For the second day in a row, Oil is trading at $100.00 / barrel.

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 08:39:18 PST - Link

Welcome to the first trading day of 2008.

Oil hit $100 on the NYMEX exchange for West Texas Intermediate the first time ever this morning.

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 10:16:04 PST - Link

No rapture for YOU.

Twenty-five percent of Americans believe it is at least somewhat likely that Jesus Christ will return to Earth in 2007, a new poll from the Associated Press and AOL News shows.

I blogged about this last January 1st.

There's no new survey, but I'm guessing that the same 25% have the same feelings about 2008.

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 11:49:46 PST - Link

No More Mr Nice Guy.

I've been holding back on posting a few things over the last couple of weeks, mostly because the holiday season is a time for family and getting in touch with what is really important.

Well, that ends today:

Now, unfortunately the whole point of the housing bubble was not really to put X-million people in so many vinyl and chipboard boxes, but rather to ramp up a suburban sprawl-building industry as a replacement for America's dwindling manufacturing economy. This stratagem ran into the implacable force of Peak Oil, which not only puts the schnitz on America's whole Happy Motoring / suburban nexus, but implies a pervasive trend for contraction in everything from the daily distances we can travel to the the very core idea of regular economic growth per se — at least in the way we have understood it through the age of industrial capital.

Forecast for 2008 — Jim Kunstler

There's loads more to the article, including a hilarious slam on Donald Trump.

I'm going to spend time with friends today. That's resolution number 1.

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 10:54:31 PST - Link

Happy New year

Here's wishing you and yours a happy and prosperous new year.

As is my habit, I've vanquished the previous entries to the history files, (over there on the left.)

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 10:22:36 PST - Link